Circular No. 49/2014/TT-BGTVT dated October 15, 2014, on safety inspection of containers carried through Vietnam ports

THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

Circular No. 49/2014/TT-BGTVT dated October 15, 2014, on safety inspection of containers carried through Vietnam ports

Pursuant to Decree No.107/2012/ND-CP dated December 20, 2012 of the Government on defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport;

Pursuant to International Convention for Safe Containers, 1972;

At the request of the Director of Vietnam Maritime Administration and the Head of the Legal Department;

The Minister of Transport issues Circular on safety inspection of containers carried through Vietnam ports,

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Circular stipulates safety inspection of containers carried through Vietnam ports.

Article 2. Subjects of application

This Circular applies to Vietnamese organizations or individuals, and foreign organizations or individuals related to safety inspection of containers carried through Vietnam ports.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

For the purpose of this Circular, the terms below shall be construed as follows:

1. Container means an article of transport equipment that is sturdy and strong enough to be used repeatedly; convenient for loading and unloading, especially transferring from one mode of transport to another. Containers are designed and manufactured following regulatory standards.

2. Container owners are any organizations or individuals managing or using containers or entities in charge of repair or maintenance of containers.

3. Container repair shops are any facilities repairing or maintaining containers in accordance with regulations of National Technical Regulation on inspection and manufacture of containers carried by means of transport.

Article 4. Content of safety inspection of containers

1. Inspect Safety Approval Plate.

2. Inspect safety condition of containers.

Chapter II

SAFETY INSPECTION OF CONTAINERS

Article 5. Safety inspection plan for containers

1. Local maritime administrations shall make inspection plan for containers in their administrative divisions.

2. Before an inspection, the Director of a local maritime administration shall send a decision to container owners or container repair shops in the seaport waters.

Article 6. Inspection of Safety Approval Plates

1. Local maritime administrations shall inspect Safety Approval Plate following procedures below:

a) Affixing Safety Approval Plate whether the containers have safety approval plates; whether the safety approval plates are affixed properly);

b) Dimension of Safety Approval Plates;

c) Information on Safety Approval Plates (including maintenance date).

2. An example of Safety Approval Plate is provided in National Technical Regulation on inspection and manufacture of containers carried by means of transport.

Article 7. Inspection of safety condition of containers

Local maritime administrations shall inspect safety condition of containers in accordance with regulations of National Technical Regulation on inspection and manufacture of containers carried by means of transport following procedures below:

1. Inspection of structural components:

a) Local deformation to the top rail;

b) Local deformation perpendicular to the bottom rail;

c) Local deformation to the header;

d) Local deformation to the sill;

dd) Local deformation to the corner posts;

e) Corner and intermediate fittings;

g) Understructure;

h) Locking rods.

2. Inspection of containers:

a) Outer side of containers;

b) Inner side of container s platform;

c) Water tightness.

Article 8. Suspension of container operations

1. A container shall be suspended in the following cases:

a) The container does not have a Safety Approval Plate, or the Safety Approval Plate is not affixed properly to the container;

b) The container has been not checked or maintained on schedule;

c) The container is damaged or unsafe as prescribed in National Technical Regulation on inspection and manufacture of containers carried by means of transport.

2. Local maritime administrations shall send notifications of suspension of container operations using the form as prescribed in Appendix I of this Circular.

3. If a container is suspended from operation in any of the cases mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article, the container owner must:

a) Repair the defects, and recover the safety condition of that container at a container repair shop and report the result to the local maritime administration before putting that container into operation.

b) If the container owner sends that container to foreign ports, he must notify the local maritime administration. The container sent to foreign ports for repair must satisfy requirements for marine safety and security, and environmental pollution prevention.

Article 9. Reporting

Within the first 10 days of the quarter, local maritime administrations must send report on general inspection of containers of the previous quarter to Vietnam Maritime Administration as prescribed in Appendix 2 of this Circular.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

Article 10. Responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and individuals

1. Vietnam Maritime Administration must:

a) Implement regulations of this Circular.

b) Direct local maritime administrations to provide guidance on this Circular to container ports in the administrative divisions and cooperate with Customs Department, Register Office in safety inspection of containers.

2. The container owners must:

a) Comply with regulations of this Circular and regulations of National Technical Regulation on inspection and manufacture of containers carried by means of transport.

b) Maintain safety condition of containers, do not falsify information on Safety Approval Plates.

Article 11. Implementation effect

This Circular shall take effect from December 15, 2014.

Article 12. Implementation organization

Chiefs of the Ministry Office, Ministerial Chief Inspector, Minister and Director of Vietnam Maritime Administration, Director of Local maritime administration and relevant entities are responsible for implementation of this Circular./.

 The Minister of Transport

Dinh La Thang